Helen Wildbore, Director at charity Care Rights UK, discusses how care providers can protect and promote holistic wellbeing – physical, mental, and emotional – for people living in care.
Protecting wellbeing
Wellbeing is central to the care and support you provide every day to people living in care. However, protecting people’s legal right to wellbeing in a climate of staff shortages and stretched services can be challenging. Ensuring wellbeing is considered holistically—encompassing physical, mental, and emotional health—is crucial. With over 30 years of experience supporting people in care and their families, we share insights on protecting wellbeing and pitfalls to avoid, based on what we hear via our adviceline.
It starts with a plan
Wellbeing is personal, and there’s no “one size fits all” approach. Getting to know the person—understanding their likes, preferences, needs, and wishes—and embedding this into their care plan is key to ensuring all aspects of wellbeing are covered. Physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing are interconnected—when one aspect falters, others often follow.
Our adviceline frequently hears that critical information is left out of care plans, such as access to dentures, glasses, or mobility aids. When these items are lost, broken, or not kept clean and usable, it significantly impacts wellbeing. For example, without working hearing aids, people can’t communicate effectively with staff, loved ones, or fellow residents. This leads to isolation, affecting mental wellbeing, and can cause emotional strain, which in turn affects physical health. We’ve supported individuals who were mistakenly thought to have dementia rather than hearing issues, further highlighting the importance of addressing these basic needs.
Everyday health
A recurring theme on our adviceline for over 30 years has been the lack of access to healthcare for people in care homes. Without input from specialist health practitioners, everyday health can deteriorate quickly, particularly when it comes to body parts that are often overlooked, such as the mouth, teeth, eyes, ears, and feet. Neglecting these areas can lead to problems that impact other aspects of physical health. For example, poor oral health can cause infections, leading to pain, weight loss, and potentially depression. Care staff play a critical role in spotting health issues and facilitating access to specialists to prevent such decline.
Small things matter
Protecting wellbeing is about supporting a person holistically, ensuring they have a good quality of life. Don’t forget the small things: respecting preferences around food and drink, keeping personal belongings safe, or ensuring people wear their own clothes. These actions are vital to respecting a person’s identity, dignity, and creating a sense of belonging in their new home.
Emotional wellbeing
Relationships are central to emotional wellbeing. Understanding who is most important in a person’s life and the role these relationships play in their care can significantly enhance their wellbeing. Consider these actions:
- Welcome family and friends to take part in an ‘induction’ to the home
- Include important relationships and caring roles by relatives/friends in care plans so that they are treated as partners in care
- Find out who the person trusts as their eyes/ears/voice for support so you know who to consult on health and care decisions – we are calling for a new legal right to a Care Supporter to make this easier
- Organise social events to welcome family and friends – they may have ideas about organising events for you
- Run a residents and relatives group to encourage loved ones to get involved in the life of the home
A legal and moral obligation
Of course, protecting wellbeing is not just a ‘nice to do’, it is about respecting people’s dignity, autonomy and legal rights, and supporting people the way we would want to be supported. This is why your role as a care professional is so important – and far too undervalued
